A massive headache coming
by Psychodahlia
Summary: Charlie thinks and he and Jack have a heart to heart. Third and final chapter up.
1. A massive headache coming

Jack had dreamed again. He hated that dream, not so much for the content, although God knew it was terrible, but because it confused him.

It was a violent dream, sort of. Well, he percieved his dream-self's actions as violent at least. Not gory or bloody, just...done out of anger. Jack didn't like to do things out of anger, he adhered to the old adage 'think before you act'.

Except it never seemed like his dream-self was thinking. The dream brought about lots of questions.

Why would he be angry?

Why would he allow that anger to control him?

Why would he react in a such a way to that anger?

Why would he be spanking Sawyer in a dream?

Jack sat on the beach with his back against the tree. He closed his eyes and inhaled the ocean scent. It was almost calming and the near rhythmic sound of the waves crashing against the shore added to the effect. Jack liked being calm, it allowed him to collect his thoughts and focus on the problem.

The dream started out with him dragging Sawyer. How he was dragging Sawyer he didn't know, the dream was fractured as dreams generally are. Then he was sitting on something and Sawyer was face down over his knee. He began spanking the other man and the dream usually ended after that.

He couldn't really remember the spanking itself. Just the sensation of anger. The feeling of being really pissed off.

Jack leaned his head back and lightly bumped it against the tree a few times in a vain hope that it would help him think. It was just all so damn confusing!

The doctor's thoughts were interrupted by shouts coming a little ways down from the beach. From the sounds of it, it sounded like a fight. Hurridly getting to his feet Jack rushed to the scene, half annoyed at having his thoughts interrupted, half glad.

It was a fight. Between Charlie and Sawyer. Sayid was holding back Sawyer from further beating the boy into a bloody pulp while Kate and Hurley were simultaneously holding back Charlie and trying to get a good look at his black eye. Briefly wondering if God was out for his sanity Jack joined in the fray, acting out his part as leader and keeper of the peace.

"Stop it! Stop it! What is going..."

"He called her a trick! That sonofa..." Charlie snarled and lunged in Sawyer's general direction. The lunge gave him enough force to break out of Hurley's grasp and he tripped and sprawled face first in the sand.

Sawyer smirked. "Don't go defendin' her loverboy. Someone might think you like the cheap li'l trick."

It had taken Jack, Hurley, and Micheal to hold Charlie back. Meanwhile Kate yelled at Sawyer, who yelled at Charlie, who yelled at his three captors. In short, there was a great deal of noise that only ended when Sayid punched Sawyer in the nose and Jack dragged Charlie off to the caves.

He chose the caves for a few reasons. First, it was morning and most people would be gone about their business, giving the two men some privacy. Second it had a source of fresh water, which would do to was away the sand and cool the injured eye. Third, and this was mostly psychological, it was a familiar place and that would serve to calm the boy down and allow Jack to do his work as a doctor.

"He called her a trick Jack." Charlie sniffled a little and Jack felt his heart go out to the young rocker. "He called her a cheap trick."

"What were you doing with him anyway?" Jack asked softly and he used a wet rag to wash off the sand.

"I wanted to know if he had any airline peanuts." Charlie reached to rub his eye.

"Don't touch it!" Jack ordered. He paused for a moment. "Airline peanuts?"

"Y'know, those little snacks they give you on the flights? I wanted some for Claire and I thought he might have some." Charlie wiped his sleeve across his nose and looked for all the world like a little boy. A little boy who was hurt in more ways than one.

After ordering Charlie to stay in the caves and not get into anymore trouble/fights/screaming matches Jack made his way out into the jungle. He wasn't looking for Sawyer, he was trying to think.

His earlier monolouge about the dream came to his mind and he groaned. While he couldn't deny that beating the crap out of Sawyer had it's appeal, spanking is not the way he would go about it. Setting himself down at the foot of a lush tree he inhaled and exhaled a few times to calm down and focus.

"You alright?" Locke's voice forced him from his inner musings.

"Locke...yeah, I'm fine." Jack took a few moredeep breaths. "Just...thinking."

"A good pastime." Locke held up a previeously unnoticed dead boar. "You mind if I start skinnin'?"

"No." Locke nodded and for a while the two enjoyed eachother's simple existince and the rare quiet of the jungle. Jack relaxed and Locke appeared to do the same. "Locke?"

"Hmm?"

"You know anything about dreams?"

Locke stopped skinning. "Not much. I never really thoughtflying through platoons of orange penguins really meant much anyway. Just a way for your brain to entertain itself." He turned his attention back to the boar. "'Course, I do know a little bit about why people act the way they do."

Jack nodded. "What if...someone beat up someone else."

"I'd say he didn't like him."

"What if it was more complex than that?" Jack probed. "What if there was a real reason behind it?" As far as he could tell there was no reason behind the dream, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Well, there are plenty of reasons. Sometimes people hit eachother to win an argument. Sometimes to punish."

"Punish." The word flew out of his mouth before Jack could think.

"Like a parent forcing their kid to behave." Locke shrugged. Jack nodded and looked in the direction of the camp and the older man continued. "'Course, sometimes it's whoever's in charge wanting someone else to behave."

"Well, if the someone else doesn't want to behave you might have trouble forcing them in some circumstances." Circumstances like being stuck on a island, Jack thought.

"True. But sometimes you have to go through that trouble, in order to keep everyone safe." Locke held up the bloody boar skin and inspected it critically. "I should have gone after a bigger boar." He glanced over at the doctor. "Y'know, you can analyze people all you want, but sometimes all a person needs is to get the crap beat out of them once or twice and to know the person beating them is doing it for their own good."

Jack gave another silent nod. "I think I understand what you're saying."

"Well, that's good. I wasn't intending on repeating it."

Jack gave a brief smile before turning and making his way toward the beach.

It was a mostlydeserted beach,as manyof the island's inhabitants had gone about their merry ways and in the half hour after the fight things had calmed down significantly. Hurley and Jin were wading in shallow water, trying to catch fish. Granted, in Hurley's case it was more trying than catching, but Jin was patiently breaking the language barrier and there was some communication on the right technique to get the slippery critters into a make-shift net.

Walt was fetch with his dog. Shannon and some other Barbie doll survivor were sunning themselves.

Sayid was leaning against a rock, eyeing Sawyer's tent warily. He wasn't doing anything, just watching. He barely noticed when Jack walked upand crouched downbeside him.

"Has he done anything else?" He asked it in a low voice, not wanting the tent's occupant to hear him.

Sayid shook his head. "He left. I'm waiting for Charlie."

Jack blinked and felt a massive headache coming on. "Why would Charlie..."

"Hurley couldn't find you so he came to me to tell me Charlie had left the caves." Sayid stood up and dusted the sand off his cargo pants. "I figured that if he couldn't find Sawyer in the jungle he would eventually come back and check here again."

"'Here again?'"

"I assume he checked here once before, before going out in the jungle." Sayid explained.

"He went out in the jungle." Jack repeated lamely.

"Yes."

"Jungle."

"Yes."

"Dammit!"

"Yes." Sayid pointed North. "He went that way. I wanted to goafter for him however, Kate wisely suggested we leave him alone." Sayid paused before adding: "Besides, it's not very likely he could find Sawyer."

Jack nodded. "Still, we should probably find them." Sayid gave a nod and together the two of them trod off in the dense, wild jungle. As he stepped in a rather slimeymud puddle Jack thought that even if he didn't end up spanking Sawyer (and he really didn't want to), that he just might end up smacking Charlie.

End Chapter One.

Author's notes- Okay, well...that was interesting. My apologies for lack of action and a seriously OOC Jack. I love the guy, really I do. But there will be no denial that he is hard to write. I will try to do better in the next chapter and I ask you all to please be patient.

Readers' poll- Who should Jack beat the hell out of? Sawyer or Charlie? Either one would have an interesting psychological reaction to it.

Sawyer- Jack would be asserting himself as a leader and as an equal who can hold his own. Sawyer would find himself grudgeingly respecting the man and if not outwardly showing it, at least not going out of his way to cause more trouble.

Charlie- I can't help it, Charlie seems very young to me. If Jack spanks him or even smacks him upside the head it would strengthen the older brother/younger brother thing they seem to have going. It would give Charlie the parental figure he seems to have missed out on in life.

It would also be good for Jack as it would show him that he can stand by his words as a leader. It might also be good for him to work out the pms I have him suffering from.

Lost belongs to Mr. Abrams and ABC. I do not figure in that equation.


	2. with no tylenol in sight

Jack wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead and squinted. The bright sun was peircing through the foilage and the leaves weren't providing much shade. Glancing back at Sayid he noticed the former soldier didn't appear to be fazed by either the heat or the brightness. If Jack had been thinking rationally he would have realized that, having lived in the Middle East, Sayid was probably used to extreme degrees of heat. As he was however, he simply thought it very unfair and refocused his attention on the task at hand; finding Charlie and Sawyer. Preferably Charlie, since if they found Sawyer, Jack might not be able to control himself and start a fight. Which could be either a good or bad thing, depending on how one looked at it.

Jack looked at it as a bad thing. Fighting was not something he liked to do and since he had had his share of suggestive dreams involving him beating the crap out of Sawyer he would rather have found Charlie. And then beat the crap out of him instead.

But not in a suggestive manner. Just a 'I told you not to do something and then you went ahead and did it anyway!' manner.

Sayid stopped walking for a moment and motioned for Jack to do the same. They both listened for a moment and Jack's eyes widened and he cursed as the yelling reached his ears.

"They've found eachother!" Jack took off running in the direction of the shouting, Sayid following close behind.

It didn't take long to find Sawyer and Charlie, who were once again fighting. Sayid looked rather amused.

"I thought you said you didn't think Charlie would find him." Jack grumbled.

"I don't think he found him so much as he probably ran into him." Sayid explained. Jack grumbled again before stepping in to break up the fight.

It wasn't much of a fight. In fact, it was mostly Sawyer and Charlie rolling around in the mud trying to hurt eachother while swearing. When Jack stepped in to stop it, he tripped and landed on top of them.

Sayid considered helping the good doctor stop the fight but wisely decided against it.

Jack and Sawyer pushed Charlie out of the way and started beating up on one another. Charlie said a word one wouldn't have thought was in his vocabulary and rejoined the fight.

Sayid leaned against a tree and watched.

Charlie started yelling at Jack for interrupting his fight with Sawyer. Jack started yelling at Charlie for leaving the caves when he had told him not to. Sawyer started yelling at both of them for attacking him.

Sayid inspected his fingernails and thought about what he would have for dinner that night.

Charlie threw a wild punch at Sawyer, who deflected it in a really cool, martial artsty way. Jack then tackled Charlie and pushed him down, telling him to stay out of the fight. Charlie responded with it was his fight to begin with and Jack shouldn't have interrupted. Sawyer said that if both of them wanted to fight he could take them both on.

Sayid checked the sun for the time and wondered when all this was going to be over.

Jack and Sawyer started slugging it out, with Jack trying to hold Charlie back at the same time. Sayid sighed and shook his head. Giving a prayer to Allah for patience, he grabbed Charlie by the younger man's upper arm and dragged him away from the fight.

"What are you doing?"

"Dragging you away from the fight. I would think that was obvious." Sayid blocked a punch thrown at him by the struggling rocker. "You really don't know how to fight, do you?"

Aware that Charlie was finally out of the way Jack started to focus all his efforts on fighting Sawyer. Sawyer was all too happy to oblige and before long they were both sweaty, muddy and cursing.

"Tell me Doc," Sawyer panted. "do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Jack didn't say anything. If he did he'd get mad. If he got mad he'd loose his temper. Visions of Sawyer over his knee made him shudder and he mentally resolved not to loose his temper. He would not get upset. He would not give in to his basic human desire to beat the crap out of Sawyer.

All that idealism went out the door when Sawyer said something about his mother. Jack reared back and delivered a punch to the southerner's nose.

"You sonofa..." Before Sawyer could finish the sentence Jack grabbed his shirt and shoved him to the ground.

"Listen, I don't care what you think of me. I don't care what you think of everyone else. I don't care what you think of yourself. But I won't let you go around goading people in beating you up. Got it?" Jack growled.

"What's it to you if I get into a fight?" Sawyer asked. "You just said you don't care."

"I don't care what you think of yourself." Jack corrected. "I do care about having to fix up you and everyone you choose to get in a fight with."

Sawyer stopped struggling and shook his head. "Right. You care I might beat up the runt over there."

"Or that he might beat up you." Jack responded. Sawyer arched an eyebrow and Jack rolled his eyes. "Ok, you're right. If someone else beat you up."

Sawyer sighed and leaned his head back. "I'll make you a deal, Doc."

"Yeah?"

"You let me up and I won't start anymore fights."

Jack nodded. "Deal."

"I ain't sayin' I'll go around apologizing." Sawyer clarified as he struggled to his feet. "And if anybody starts a fight with me then..."

Jack nodded. "I know." Both men stood there for a moment. "Um..."

"Later Doc." Sawyer turned and headed off in the direction of the beach. "Promise I won'tbeat the hobbit anymore."

Jack blinked. "Hobbit?"

"He's short. Like a hobbit." Having said that Sawyer disappeared into the jungle leaving a very confused doctor.

Jack shook his head before turning to where Sayid still had a good grip on Charlie.

Author's notes- 'Kay, so did everybody like the lame li'l hobbit joke? Yeah, me neither. I did however, like Sayid's reaction to the fight. I'm so clever...in a not really sort of way. Again, I apologize for any errors and for poor fight descriptions. I'm not much of an expert on fights being of wimpy nature.

Right so, Jack beat up Sawyer. I think it was beneficial for both. I think Jack might also ended up beating Charlie, but more in a 'older brother/younger brother' way. Seriously, that's how I see their relationship.

Sayid rox mai sox.He will rock in the next chapter too.

Reviews are much appreciated and I thank those of you who have reviewed already. It makes me feel all warm and snuggly inside.


	3. but there is asprin for the asking

Charlie sat at the front of the caves and thought. Kate walked by, they exchanged greetings, she moved on and he kept on thinking. Hurley walked by, they made plans to play golf later on in the week, he moved on and Charlie kept on thinking. Jin came by and said something in Korean which translated into "Why have you been sitting there for the past hour?" Charlie blinked in ignorance, Jin rolled his eyes and moved on. Charlie quit thinking for a minute.

'What the hell did he say?' Shrugging his shoulders, the British rock star went back to thinking. He thought for another goodten before Jack entered the caves, abruptly ending his thoughts.

"Jack!" The blond pushed himself up from the cave floor and ran over to the doctor. "I have to talk to you..."

"Later." Came the short reply.

Charlie was undeterred. "I really have to..."

"Charlie!" Jack held up his hand. "I said later. I have an infected toenail, a migraine and a mild case of heatstroke. I just came by to refill my water bottle." He held up the empty water bottle to emphasis his point.

Charlie blinked. "When you say you have all that, you do mean your patients have it, right?"

"Yes Charlie." Jack nodded as he kneeled to refill the water bottle. "Look, whatever you want to talk about, can it wait until this evening?"

Charlie nodded. "Sure." Jack sighed.

"Good. I'll see you later then." The doctor exited the caves almost as abruptly as he came in. Charlie stood there, rubbing the back of his head for a moment, then he stepped out and made his way to the beach.

Claire was seated under a shady tree, thoughtfully rocking the cradle. It lookedalmost the same as it had when she and Locke (mostly Locke) had made it, with one major difference.

Charlie squatted down beside her and squinted at the cradle. "Where'd you get the blanket?" He asked, in reference to the fuzzy red blanket bearing the Oceanic Airlines logo that now adorned the cradle.

Claire smiled and shook her head. "You'd never believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

The pregnant girl looked at the cradle, then at Charlie, then at the cradle again. "Sawyer...see! I told you you wouldn't believe me!" She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her left ear. "He just came up to me and handed it over. Said it was too cold on this island for a baby without a blanket. I guess he was hoarding it. Charlie, close your mouth!"

Charlie closed his mouth. "I don't believe it."

"Neither did I, at first. He left before I could even say thank you." Her smiled got a little wider. "It was sweet of him though. I guess it was his way of apologizing for getting in a fight with you a few days ago."

Charlie stared at her. "You knew about that?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "It's a small island. I know why you were fighting him too. Kate told me. Thank you."

Charlie Pace, former rock god of Britain, looked away so she wouldn't see him blush. They sat like that for a few moments, not saying anything, before he spoke again.

"D'you think I'm a kid?" Upon seeing Claire's puzzled look, he elaborated. "I mean...do you think of me as a little kid? Like I can't take care of myself."

Claire shook her head. "No, I don't. I think you're the sweetest man on this island." To prove her sincerity she leaned over and smooched the tip of his nose.

Charlie left the scene a little later smiling like a lunatic and blushing furiously. One down, two to go.

"Sayid?" The former soldier didn't look up. "Sayid?"

He looked up from his map of the island. "Charlie." He acknowledged.

Charlie sat down on a fallen tree. "I need to ask you something." Sayid raised his eyebrows in a way that meant: 'Continue'. "I want to know if you can teach me how to fight."

This time Sayid's eyebrows indicated surprise, which was unusual. Sayid was not an easy man to surprise. "You want me to teach you to fight?"

"Yeah."

Sayid put the map aside. "Why?"

Charlie bit his lip. "I want to fight my own fights."

Sayid nodded. "This is because of Sawyer and Jack?"

Charlie looked at the ground. "Yeah."

Sayid nodded again. "Let me ask you: what would you have done to Sawyer if Jack hadn't interfered?"

"If...what?"

"Would you have killed him?" Sayid asked bluntly. "Sometimes knowing how to fight means killing. You already killed one man, do you want to kill another?"

"I don't want to kill anybody." Charlie said quietly. "I just want to fight my own fights."

"That is admirable." Sayid told him. "But do you really think that all fighting is is punching someone?"

"Sayid, look at me. I'm short. If I can't fight, how'm I supposed to protect myself or Claire? How'm I supposed to be a man?"He hadn't meant to add"or Claire?". Sayid arched an eyebrow but didn't mention it.

"Do you know, when I found the French woman, why I left in the first place?" He asked. Charlie shook his head. "It was because I tortured Sawyer. I don't like hurting people Charlie." He paused. "And I will not teach anyone else to hurt people either."

Charlie nodded. "Fine." He got up and was about to leave when Sayid stopped him.

"Just because I won't teach you to fight doesn't mean I don't think you're a man."

"Oh yeah? Why the bloody hell did you stop me from beating up Sawyer then?" Charlie yelled. "Did'ja think I couldn't do it?"

Sayid shrugged. "No, I didn't. Besides, it wasn't your fight."

Charlie stared at him. "What do you bloody mean 'it wasn't my fight'? He..."

"Sawyer has been on Jack's 'to beat up' list a great deal longer than he has been on yours." Sayid folded his arms. "Think about it." Having said that, the man gathered up his maps and compass and left, leaving Charlie standing there.

The brit left not long after. He headed for the beach.

Time passed. Hurley came by, the two men reaffirmed their decision to go fishing and Hurley left. Kate came by, reassured Charlie thatno matterwhat Jack had said in the jungle, he didn't hate Charlie. She left and more time passed. Jin came by, said something Charlie couldn't understand, and left. Time kept on passing. And passing. And passing. A volcano erupted, the Red Sox won, and some other stuff happened, but that was somewhere else.

Finally, enough time passed that evening reached the island and Jack stumbled into the small part of the caves that he had claimed as his own to find Charlie waiting for him.

"Jack. We really need to talk." Jack nodded in agreement while reaching into the backpack that served as his medical bag. He pulled out a little white bottle, took out a pill and downed it witha slug from his water bottle.

Charlie frowned. "What was that?"

"Asprin." Jack stretched. Charlie nodded and the two of them sat for a moment, not saying anything.

Jack was the first to break the silence. "About what I said in the jungle..."

Charlie shrugged. "If anyone has a right to beat up Sawyer, it's you."

"Yes." Jack sighed. "Charlie, don't take this the wrong way, but you don't know how to fight." He lowered his voice. "You're getting over a drug addiction and Sawyer's a tough man." He placed his hand on top of the rock star's head. "He would've..."

"...Pounded me into a pulp?" Charlie shrugged. "Yeah. But Jack...I'm not a kid."

Jack nodded and looked at the ground as his earlier words in the junglecame back to haunt him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Charlie shrugged and silence once again prevailed. Again, Jack broke it.

"My problem is I can't help but see you as very young."

"Bloody hell, how old are you?" Charlie asked. Jack smiled a little.

"Thirty-seven. And..."

"Damn." Jack glared for a second and Charlie put up his hands in a show of goodwill. "Sorry."

"Right. But that's what I'm talking about, sort of. You're all of what, twenty-three? That's not that old."

Charlie looked offended. "Still, it's not like I'm a bloody kid either."

"True, and I'll try and remember that. But all the same. I see you and I think 'Where the hell where his parents when he started?' I keep thinking you never would have had togo through with that had your brother or your father or somebody had noticed."

Charlie gave his messy blond head a toss. "My brother got me started." He looked at Jack and continued. "That's not all; I go to Australia to visit him and the bastard has the nerve to tell me I should get clean." He looked at Jack again. "Not that there was anything wrong with getting clean, just in him telling me..." He trailed off as Jack pulled him closer into a slight hug.

"Listen, I know you're not a kid, but you still need somebody." Charlie nodded.

Things changed a little in the following weeks.

Word about the blanket spread and while people still avoided him, there was talk on the island about Sawyer actually being human.

Sayid was seen, if not teaching him how to throw a punch, at least showing Charlie a few blocking moves.

Hurley and Charlie went fishing and actually caught some fish.

Jin learned a few words of English. Not much, but some.

Charlie didn't blush as much when he talked to Claire. And while she didn't spread the information, Kate sometimes heard Jack giving him love advice, mostly consisting of "There is no peanut butter. Just give her some flowers."

For his part, Jack found his asprin and there is no reason to believe he was bothered with anymore weird dreams.

Finite.

Author's notes- I originally started this with an intent that, yes Jack would spank Sawyer. However the story took hold of my puny brain cells and mutated into what you just read. Not that that's a bad thing. The dream became more of a symbol of Jack asserting himself over the one person who questions his authority and the focus became mainly centered on Jack and Charlie and their relationship.

I did not mean to portray Charlie and being weak/stupid/helpless. He's not. What he is, is young/recovering from a serious addiction/in need of guidance. Jack can provide that guidance.

In response to Sayid's not fighting in chapter two and his reluctance to teach Charlie to fight, there's a reason for that. He's spent a good part of his life hurting people and it shows. He left the camp after he tortured Sawyer because he was feeling guilty. Besides that, why should he fight? He knows he can beat Sawyer, it's Jack's turn now. He and Charlie have no business in interering.

I think I have Jack a little bit more in character than I did when I first started writing this. He was kind of tough to get the hang of, but I'm sure I'll do better next time.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Any and all reviews are appreciated.


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